A terminal building at San Diego International Airport, which MTS Route 992 now serves every 15 minutes through the end of the service day. Photo: Scott Carr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Far more people are taking the bus to San Diego International Airport than were doing so just after the pandemic, and this fall MTS stretched 15-minute service on Route 992 across the full day, including later evenings. In a Sept. 2 news release, MTS said annual ridership on the airport route rose from 165,908 passenger trips in fiscal year 2021 to 398,790 in fiscal year 2026, an increase of more than 140 percent. The more frequent schedule, funded by SANDAG through its Airport Transit Connection project, started Sunday, Sept. 6. The San Diego Sentinel later reported the same ridership figures and the all-day 15-minute headways.
MTS Board Chair and City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn said in the release, “The route’s remarkable growth shows the demand for better airport transit.” SANDAG Chair and Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Heebner called the upgrade “a solution we can deliver now, while also” the region studies a longer-term direct connection. Airport Authority President and CEO Atif Saeed said the agency was “pleased to see expanded public transportation options for travelers and employees.” The bus links downtown San Diego and the airport terminals, a short but congested trip that many visitors now make without a rental car.
The ridership comparison covers the pandemic recovery as well as the later service changes, so it does not isolate the effect of the September schedule alone, a point also noted in later coverage of the route. What the numbers do show is that nearly 233,000 more annual trips are moving on a line where frequency matters for both travelers and airport workers. SANDAG is still evaluating longer-term options for a direct airport connection, including rapid-bus and rail concepts, work that is separate from the 992 improvements already in service.
For passengers, the practical change is already on the street: a 992 every 15 minutes through the end of the service day, including added evening and late-night trips, paid for by SANDAG while the larger Airport Transit Connection study continues.
